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“Yes. I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate it. Appreciate them. I like them. I’ve always liked them. When either of them was alone with me they were cool.”
“Not when they were together.”
He shrugged. “They didn’t get along. They tried. Let me do what I wanted.”
I said, “Was all that freedom good?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Sometimes too much can be frightening.”
“Not to me,” he said. “It was the best.”
“It almost sounds like they were more friends than parents.”
He stiffened. “I don’t want anyone thinking I came in here to put them down. I never will, they’re not bad people, they’re just—okay, yeah, they never acted like most parents. But that also gave me more independence.”
“Total freedom.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t say total, Doctor. Like I’m sure if I wanted todrive his Lamborghini it would be no way. But I never asked for crazy stuff.”
“Anything safe was okay.”
“Please,” he said. “I really don’t want to put them down.”
“Don’t mean to push you in that direction. Sorry if I made you feel that way.”
“No, I know, you’re trying to help me. Sorry for criticizing.”
“You didn’t, Derek.”
“Whatever,” he said. “I never gave them a reason not to give me freedom.” He folded his arms across his chest.
I said, “You didn’t take foolish risks and they respected that.”
“Exactly.” The arms relaxed. “They knew I’d be smart—they’ve always said that. You’re smart. They tell me that all the time.”
“Got it. I hear you get great grades.”
“School’s not hard.”
I smiled.
He said, “Okay, I get a few A’s.”
“What did they think about that?”
“They said it was cool—I’m not saying they didn’ttryto be parents, Doctor. Keeping a good attitude, they took me on a few trips when it was appropriate. But mostly they traveled separately.”
“Without you or without each other?”
“Both.”
“Who took care of you when they were gone?”
“Nannies when I was home. The school when I was in school. Everything they could do, they did.”
“I understand.”
